The fight starts here!
From nanoparticles and stem cells to antioxidants and drug
discovery, Kansas State University faculty are conducting
the basic and translational cancer research that lead to new
treatments and cures, as well as training tomorrowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s scientists
and medical professionals. To support the Johnson Cancer
Research Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vision to conquer cancer in our time, simply

On the cover: Brad Behnke.

use the enclosed envelope to send your gift, or donate online
at www.found.ksu.edu/cancer. With your help, we make a
difference! To learn more about how you can support K-State
cancer research and education, contact David Spafford at
800-432-1578 or davids@found.ksu.edu.

Welcome to our fourth issue of Conquest, an annual magazine about the Johnson
Cancer Research Center at Kansas State University. We are pleased to again spotlight
the exciting work of some of our affiliated faculty scientists.
Dr. Brad Behnke, kinesiology, studies how exercise can increase the efficacy of cancer
treatments like radiation. Dr. Ric Rosenkranz, human nutrition, has a nationally
recognized program to inspire changes in exercise and nutrition among girls to lower
their lifetime risk of cancer. Dr. Susan Brown, biology, studies cancer-relevant genes
and their functions in an insect model system.

Table of contents

Allow me to give Dr. Brown’s research a little more context. Conquest often features
investigations into the prevention, origin, diagnosis and treatment of cancers, but
we cannot forget the importance of basic research, the study of fundamental properties of molecules,
cells and organisms. Basic research has dramatically improved the understanding of cancers and their
control. Dr. Brown’s use of the red flour beetle to study genetics offers many advantages as it allows
experimental procedures impossible in human studies yet relevant to human cancers.

Research that moves

2

A bitter pill to swallow

3

The big picture

4

Dr. Brown played a very significant role in establishing the red flour beetle as an experimental model
system now used worldwide, and has since broadened her program to include DNA analysis and
genome mapping of many organisms, including humans. She also is a top expert in bioinformatics.
Dr. Brown is a university distinguished professor and she recently won a prestigious Higuchi-KU
Endowment Award in basic research.

6

In this issue, you will meet K-State alumnus Josh Umbehr, M.D., who parlayed his undergraduate
cancer research experience into a career as a physician, and graduate student Susan Whitaker, whose
personal experience has made her extra motivated to be a part of our mission to take a leading role in
conquering cancers in our time.

Fighting for a Cure campaign rallies
Wildcat community to celebrate,
support university’s cancer research
Creating a healthy lifestyle
for girls in a SNAP

Finally, you’ll meet K-State alumnus and strong supporter of our center, retired U.S. Air Force Reserves
Maj. Gen. Harvey McCarter, and learn how thousands of other members of the K-State family rallied
together last fall to support the university’s fight against cancer.
Our programs supporting K-State’s promising cancer research and budding scientists are only possible
because of generous donors and friends like you. Research has undoubtedly led to increased cancer
survivorship, and its continued progress requires support. We thank all of you who have contributed
to our efforts. There is more work to be done and now is the time for huge advances. We invite you to
read further and join our fight.

Rob Denell
Director

$2,383,794
has been invested in promising cancer studies since 2003. But
$3,930,943 was requested.

moderate exercise as a way to make radiation
treatments more effective, especially for difficultto-treat tumors.
“If we can increase the efficacy of radiation
treatment, then the patient’s prognosis is
enhanced,” Behnke said. “An intervention like
exercise has almost universally positive side effects
versus other treatments that can have deleterious
side effects. Exercise is a type of therapy that
benefits multiple systems in the body.”
The National Cancer Institute at the National
Institutes of Health recommends exercise for
cancer patients and cancer survivors, but little
research shows why. That prompted Behnke to
combine his expertise in integrative physiology
with cancer research. He also has received
support from the Johnson Cancer Research Center.
“I became interested in finding out what
happens within the tumor during and after
exercise as a means to enhance treatment
outcomes,” Behnke said.
For the latest research, Behnke is using prostate
cancer tumor models to find ways to enhance
oxygen delivery to tumors. When a tumor is
hypoxic, or has low oxygen, it is often very
aggressive, Behnke said. Because oxygen is a
“radiosensitizer,” it helps destroy cancer cells. As
a result, low-oxygen tumors often are resistant
to traditional cancer therapies, such as radiation
therapy, and interventions, such as concentrated
oxygen breathing, are used to get more oxygen
to the tumor before treatment.

Research that moves
Kinesiologist’s work combats cancer with exercise
By Jennifer Tidball

“If we manipulate all the systems in the body
— the lungs, the heart and the blood vessels
— with exercise, we can take advantage of
the dysfunctional vasculature in the tumor and
enhance blood flow to the tumor,” Behnke said.
“The tumor becomes the path of least resistance
for the elevated cardiac output of exercise,

Kansas State University kinesiology research offers encouraging information for cancer patients:
A brisk walk or a slow jog on a regular basis may be the key to improved cancer treatments.
Brad Behnke, associate professor of exercise physiology, and collaborators have shown that
moderate exercise on a regular basis may enhance tumor oxygenation and improve treatments
in cancer patients. Now Behnke is using a $750,000 American Cancer Society grant to study
2

which results in a substantial increase in tumor
oxygenation during and after exercise.”
But the key is moderate exercise, said Behnke.
Too little exercise may have no effect, but too
much exercise may have a negative effect and
may shut down blood flow to the tumor region
or impair the immune system.
Moderate exercise is an activity that uses 30
to 60 percent of someone’s aerobic capacity,
Behnke said. The activity is nonstrenuous and is
something that most people can perform, such
as a brisk walk or a slow jog.
Research also has shown that moderate exercise
can help cancer patients counteract some of the
side effects of treatment — such as low blood
count, fatigue, cachexia and lost muscle mass —
which has led to many researchers labeling this
as “aerobic exercise therapy” for patients with
cancer, Behnke said.
“There really aren’t any negative side effects
of moderate-intensity exercise,” Behnke said.
“Exercise is often prescribed to improve the
side effects of cancer and treatment, but what
exercise is doing within the tumor itself is likely
beneficial as well.”
Behnke and collaborators have published their
exercise and cancer research in the Journal of the
National Cancer Institute.
At Kansas State University, Behnke is
collaborating with Mary Lynn Higginbotham,
assistant professor of clinical sciences; Katie
Heinrich, assistant professor of kinesiology;
and David Poole, professor of kinesiology. The
American Cancer Society grant, “Modulation of
tumor oxygenation to enhance radiotherapy,”
also involves University of Florida researchers in
tumor microenvironment biology.

A bitter pill to swallow

“I’ve been working on how the BAPCs behave to figure out how
we can best utilize them therapeutically,” Whitaker said.
Whitaker and Tomich’s research has shown that the capsules —
made from two peptide variants of a sequence differing only in
length — stay stable through a wide temperature range, remain
intact within a cell and can encapsulate hazardous materials used
to fight cancer.

A former cancer patient’s quest to find a better treatment
By Stephanie Jacques

Beyond her research, Susan Whitaker, a new Kansas State
University graduate student in biochemistry and molecular
biophysics, never thought about cancer. It never occurred to her as
the cause of her stomach pains.

“I was so sick from the chemo treatments,” Whitaker said. “Every
other week I couldn’t do much because I felt horrible and I had to
live with that. Now I know what it’s like, so it motivates me to do a
little bit more with my research.”

She was 28 years old, a wife, mother, part-time registered nurse
and a junior at the university when she was diagnosed with stage
3 colon cancer.

As a graduate student, Whitaker is continuing her undergraduate
research, for which she received a Johnson Cancer Research Center
award to work with John Tomich, professor of biochemistry. They
study Branched Amphiphilic Peptide Capsules, or BAPCs. When
bombarded with radiation, the capsules absorb and contain the
radiation, which may allow a targeted attack on cancer cells
without harming normal cells.

“They say nurses make the worst patients,” Whitaker said. “I
thought it might be a food intolerance or milk allergy. I had gone
to the doctor and they did an ultrasound, but didn’t see anything.
They said if it gets worse to come back, but I just didn’t go back.”

“We want them to be stable for some period of time, but
eventually become unstable,” Whitaker said. “Under these
conditions, we may be able to have them release their contents at
a certain time into only the cancerous cells.”
Whitaker hopes her work will someday help her and others, but
implementing the capsules as a reliable therapy for cancer patients
may take many years.
For now, Whitaker has a computed tomography, or CT, scan every
six months and a colonoscopy every year to make sure the cancer
hasn’t returned. Though the risk of cancer returning is high, she
believes she can overcome it as long as they catch it early.
“I couldn’t have done it without my husband,” Whitaker said.
“When I was in the hospital my husband said, ‘We’re going to beat
this. We don’t have a choice,’ and we have so far.”

Eight months later, Whitaker was rushed to the hospital and into
surgery to remove a large obstruction from her colon.
“All I remember when I woke up from surgery was my husband
with our daughter on his lap and he said, ‘Susan, they found
a tumor,’” Whitaker said. “I remember thinking, ‘That’s weird;
28-year-olds don’t get cancer.’”
The doctors discovered the cause of Whitaker’s cancer was Lynch
Syndrome, a genetic disorder that increases the risk of many types
of cancers, especially at younger ages. She had surgery to remove
a part of her colon and started chemo treatments, which she
continued into the 2013 fall semester.
“I think I missed maybe only two or three recitations because
I made myself get up despite the chemo,” Whitaker said. “I
remember just laying against my backpack in the Chemistry/
Biochemistry Building with my transfusion going.”
The chemo treatments worked. She was cancer-free by October 2013
and pregnant with her second child by December. But the looming
Lynch Syndrome diagnosis means she may get cancer again — and her
children have a 50 percent chance of having the genetic disorder, too.
The treatment for cancer scares Whitaker more than the diagnosis
of cancer.

We invest

$100,000
3

a year to train 50 undergraduates
to conduct research.

$86,740
4

supported laboratory equipment purchases in 2014.
But hundreds of thousands of dollars are needed.

Susan Brown looks at the small LCD screen on the front of a
printer-sized machine. Long, bumpy lines move horizontally across
a red background. A nearby computer transcribes the bumpy lines
into tiny “dots on a string” that scroll down the computer’s screen,
similar to the computer code in the movie “The Matrix.”
“We like those long strands. That’s where all of the good
information is,” said Brown, university distinguished professor
of biology and a researcher affiliated with the Johnson Cancer
Research Center.
An expert in insect evolution and development, Brown studies how
an organism’s genome — its genetic blueprint — is organized,
which she says may shed light on where and when cancers and
other diseases develop in the body.

“The Hunger Games” because it’s “temperamental but fierce” —
helps researchers see a bigger picture of the genetic information
and its arrangement in a genome. The machine quickly analyzes
DNA from a blood or cell sample and then creates a panoramic
image of the donor’s genetic landscape for analysis, which was
previously impossible.
“We now can see longer pieces of the DNA in a chromosome at one
time,” Brown said. “It’s like zooming out on a subject and getting a
bigger picture of the whole scene. And that’s exactly what this machine
does: It enables us to take pictures of very long pieces of DNA.”
In the course of one day, the machine can produce enough pictures
of long single DNA molecules in 26,000 parallel nanochannels on
a silicon chip to map an individual’s genome. Researchers can then
compare this map against the healthy reference human genome in
the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s database to
spot differences and problematic regions that may be relevant to
tumor formation. Brown says this is already beneficial for leukemia
and other blood disorders, and will soon be applied to solid tumors.
To get a feel for the technology, Brown’s lab has run and analyzed
blood or cell samples from a chimpanzee, monk seal, mouse lemur,
hooded crows and various insects. The team will soon begin testing
human tumor samples, which will include taking images of cancer
genomes and comparing them to the genome of normal white
blood cells from the same person.
“This will enable us to highlight genomic difference specific to
the disease and rule out normal variation between individuals,”
Brown said.

“The genes we’d like to better understand are those that encode
the proteins that help humans develop,” Brown said. “It’s those
genes that usually have something go wrong in them, such as
when and where they’re expressed. This can lead to the wrong
cells dividing and forming tumors.”

Brown’s team includes Michelle Coleman, research assistant who
runs the machine; Jennifer Shelton, K-INBRE outreach coordinator
who has developed algorithms that analyze the genomic data;
Nanyan Lu, research assistant who processes the data; and Nic
Herndon, computer and bioinformatics specialist who helps
analyze the resulting large data sets on Beocat, the university’s
supercomputer cluster.

With support from the cancer research center, Brown and her team
recently purchased an Irys system from BioNano Genomics — one
of fewer than 50 in the world. The groundbreaking machine —
which the team nicknamed Katniss after the main character of

In addition to human health aspects, the genome maps made using
the Irys machine provide essential genomic resources for improving
the recently sequenced genomes of crop plants, pest and beneficial
insects, and food animals.

5

Fighting for a Cure campaign rallies Wildcat community to
celebrate, support university’s cancer research
By Sheila Ellis-Glasper

Thousands of K-Staters combined their passion
and support for Kansas State University and
cancer research with the Johnson Cancer
Research Center’s Fighting for a Cure campaign.
The fall campaign raised $15,000 by selling
purple T-shirts that featured a pink Powercat,
pink ribbons and the phrase, “Fighting Ever
Fighting for a Cure,” inspired by the university’s
fight song, “Wildcat Victory.”
“There was an outpouring of support for this
campaign,” said Marcia Locke, communications
and outreach coordinator for the Johnson Cancer
Research Center. “We united together as a
K-State family to promote a worthy cause.”
The campaign, which celebrated the university’s
world-class cancer research and Breast Cancer
Awareness Month, culminated in the inaugural
Fighting for a Cure Shirt Day on Saturday, Oct. 4,
2014. Hundreds of supporters donned “Fighting”
T-shirts at the Wildcats’ home football game.
Well-known K-Staters, including Coach Bill
Snyder and his wife, Sharon Snyder; university

President Kirk Schulz and first lady Noel Schulz;
and former K-State football standout and NFL
player Kevin Lockett, proudly displayed their
pride in the university’s cancer research with
their shirts.
The three-week social media campaign was
a hit, featuring the call-to-action hashtag
#HelpKStateFightCancer. Dozens of photos
showing campaign supporters wearing their
shirts were posted to Facebook and Twitter using
the campaign hashtag.
Local businesses, radio stations and other media
outlets rallied around the cause, promoting the
campaign to make it a success. Almost 2,000
shirts were sold by Varney’s and the cancer
research center, with N Zone’s help with online
sales and distribution.
T-shirts are still available for purchase, and
the second Fighting for a Cure Shirt Day
is planned for Oct. 17, 2015. For information
visit: cancer.k-state.edu/newsevents/
FightingForACureShirt.html.

95% of funds donated
came from gifts of less than $1,000.
Every gift helps, and last year,

6

Creating a healthy lifestyle
for girls in a SNAP

Research support has been
leveraged by our faculty to

25 times

as much in
national funding.

By Stephanie Jacques

Starting children on a path to a healthier lifestyle is a snap for Ric Rosenkranz,
Kansas State University associate professor of human nutrition.

The 2-year-old program has already seen success. Rosenkranz worked with four troops in Manhattan,
Kansas. He asked girls and parents to wear accelerometers, which logged a daily increase of about
1,000 to 1,500 steps among the participants.

Rosenkranz created the Scouting Nutrition Activity Program, or SNAP, a health
promotion program that targets Girl Scout troops and was recently adopted by the
National Cancer Institute as a Research-Tested Intervention Program.

“That’s close to a mile extra of physical activity per day,” Rosenkranz said. “I think we added to the
program’s success by communicating with parents so they could better see the purpose of it. I think
this increased their support.”

The institute selected the program because it has potential to aid in cancer
prevention and can be easily adapted into many different communities.

In addition to the girls’ increase in activity, the program showed a reduction in body mass index for 7
out of 8 participants who were in overweight or obese ranges.

“There are direct links between cancer and a sedentary lifestyle and obesity,”
Rosenkranz said. “The National Cancer Institute suggests 30-40 percent of cancers
are preventable by establishing a more healthy lifestyle, particularly by implementing
good nutrition and an increase in physical activity.”

“The cool thing about it was that it wasn’t a weight loss program; this was just a healthy lifestyle
program — increase physical activity and eat healthier,” he said.
Rosenkranz didn’t originally create the program as an opportunity to prevent cancers, but now sees
endless opportunities to help children establish a brighter future.

The program provides troop leaders with educational materials and learning
opportunities that promote physical activity and healthy eating, which Rosenkranz
hopes will lead to a healthy life path for young girls.

“I really believe that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” Rosenkranz said. “If we are
going to prevent chronic diseases such as cancer, it makes sense to work with kids and get them on a
healthy track.”

According to Rosenkranz, girls tend to be less physically active than boys, which is
why he is targeting Girl Scouts.

Rosenkranz received seed grant funding from Kansas State University’s Johnson Cancer Research
Center and an equipment grant from the Kansas Health Foundation to help him grow the program and
seek more national funding. He continues to refine the program, which is available on the National
Cancer Institute’s website, rtips.cancer.gov/rtips/programDetails.do?programId=2570231.

“Girls in elementary school are a little bit less active than boys, but in middle school
and high school physical activity decreases greatly,” Rosenkranz said. “We want to
make sure that girls have every chance possible to maintain a physically active and
healthy lifestyle.”
7

Josh Umbehr is changing the face of primary care medicine by removing the middleman and focusing
on the patient. His innovative “direct primary care” model of medicine is growing in popularity, and his
path to developing it began at Kansas State University.

body image Choices and Big Cats. These experiences, combined with his research, helped him advance
in his career and become an accomplished doctor.
Umbehr graduated in 2003 and went on to medical school at the University of Kansas and a residency
in Wichita. He opened his family practice, AtlasMD, in Wichita in 2010. It is regarded as a revolutionary
practice for its “direct primary care” model.

Umbehr majored in human nutrition and was chosen by the Johnson Cancer Research Center in 2001
to take part in its undergraduate Cancer Research Award program, which offers faculty-mentored
research experiences.

His practice does not use health insurance; rather he charges a flat monthly fee in exchange for
unlimited access to his office. The fee includes procedures performed in the offices and prescription
medicines provided at his practice.

He worked with Richard Baybutt, former associate professor of human nutrition, studying how vitamin
A or E altered the lung’s response to cigarette smoke constituents. His research found that vitamins A
and E restored surfactant synthesis and cell adherence, suggesting these antioxidants decreased the
toxicity of the cigarette smoke toward type II pneumocytes, which help maintain lung function.

Less burdened by government and insurance regulations, Umbehr can be more focused on his
patients and their needs. This allows him to spend more time giving them detailed health information,
incorporating what he learned at Kansas State University.

“My experience in research helped me get into medical school because I was able to speak intelligently
about the process of scientific research and show a deeper intellectual capacity,” Umbehr said.

“My experience in human nutrition has been very valuable because nutrition is not a topic covered much
in medical school, but it is a large component of family medicine,” Umbehr said. “I’m able to give more
detailed nutrition information and suggestions because I have that background in human nutrition.”

“Undergraduate research gives you a lot of insight into the research world and how basic science
transitions into a bedside prescription,” Umbehr said. “It educated me on how scientists research
complex medical issues, and I am now able to translate that to my patients. They appreciate having
someone with research experience, especially cancer research.”

Umbehr and his partners have now launched more than a dozen similar practices and helped 67
doctors across the country. He also is involved with the Wichita Down Syndrome Society and is a board
member of Rainbows United, a developmental training center for children with special needs. He was
the recipient of the College of Human Ecology’s 2012 Young Professional Award.

While at Kansas State University, Umbehr was active in many programs and activities, including
Student Health Advisory Committee, Sexual Health Awareness Peer Educators, Sensible Nutrition and

$1,259,500

has been invested in undergraduate
research training since 1980.
8

Why he gives
Family’s struggles with cancer inspire
McCarter to do more

Programs to advance K-State cancer
research and education are made
possible by private donations.

By Beth Bohn

Harvey McCarter knows success.
After graduating from Kansas State University in 1956 with a
bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, he rose to the rank
of major general in the U.S. Air Force Reserves and served at the
Pentagon. As a professional engineer, he worked on projects for
national defense — including the B-52 and the Titan II missile system
— as well as the U.S. space shuttle program. He’s been a commercial
airline pilot and flight instructor, and he made his mark in the
business world as an executive of several flight training companies.
Now retired, McCarter, who lives in Fairview, Texas, is not slowing
down. He hopes his next success is helping his alma mater find a
cure for cancer. He’s doing this through gifts that fund research at
the university’s Johnson Cancer Research Center.

McCarter enjoys selecting projects to support
at the center, which he has done for nearly 10
years. He knows his gifts are making a difference
in the battle against cancer.
“All of the projects I have supported have been
critical and helpful, and some have even resulted
in patents,” he said. “I would highly encourage
everyone to support the cancer research center
because of the personal satisfaction you get
out of the goal of trying to stop cancer and the
serious results your support helps produce.”

“Marilyn, my current wife, lost her husband to cancer, and I lost
my second wife to cancer,” McCarter said. “Giving to the cancer
research center is an opportunity to help my alma mater. I have a
sincere hope we can cure this disease.”

Not only has McCarter given back to K-State
through gifts to the cancer research center, he
also established an endowed fund to support an
annual engineering scholarship at the university.
In addition, he supports the K-State Alumni
Association and K-State Athletics’ Mike Ahearn
Scholarship Fund. He is a member of the Kansas
State University Foundation President’s Club, which
honors exceptional supporters of the university.

It was research by Deryl Troyer, professor of anatomy and
physiology, and Stefan Bossmann, professor of chemistry, that
sparked McCarter’s first large gift to the center in 2007. He was
hooked when he met with Troyer and saw a presentation about
using nanoparticles to overheat or bore holes through cancerous
tissue to kill it. Since then, the researchers have also, among other
projects, developed a simple blood test that can, in less than one
hour, accurately detect the beginning stages of several cancers.

“I see my contributions as a way to support the
university’s goal of becoming a Top 50 public
research university by 2025,” said McCarter. “I
owe so much to Kansas State University. I got
my Air Force commission, entry into flight school
and my engineering degree through K-State.
Everything has worked out kind of nicely for me
and I like to give back.”

Giving back to his university and supporting efforts to fight cancer
are important to McCarter.

Cancer Research Departments
College of Arts & Sciences
Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
College of Agriculture
Grain Science and Industry
Horticulture
Plant Pathology
College of Engineering
Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Engineering Extension
College of Human Ecology
Human Nutrition
Kinesiology
College of Veterinary Medicine
Anatomy and Physiology
Clinical Sciences
Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology
Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory
Notice of Nondiscrimination
Kansas State University is committed to nondiscrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnic or national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity,
religion, age, ancestry, disability, military status, veteran status, or other non-merit reasons, in admissions, educational programs or activities and employment,
including employment of disabled veterans and veterans of the Vietnam Era, as required by applicable laws and regulations. Responsibility for coordination
of compliance efforts and receipt of inquiries concerning Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504
of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, has been delegated to the Director of
Affirmative Action, Kansas State University, 214 Anderson Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506-0124, (Phone) 785-532-6220; (TTY) 785-532-4807.